Senior Data Scientist

Norstella; Providence (RI); Remote; USD 170,000 - 215,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical and Rx benefits

HSA/FSA

Dental & Vision

Life & AD&D

401(k) match

Disability insurance

Parental leave

Open vacation policy

Job summary

Norstella is seeking a Senior Data Scientist to design and deploy production‑grade AI systems for pharma intelligence, leveraging LLMs and advanced ML techniques to solve complex business problems.

You will build multi‑agent workflows with LangChain, develop RAG pipelines, and create scalable APIs. Collaboration with product and engineering teams, rigorous testing, and mentoring junior staff are core to this role.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in AI/ML projects, preferably regulated industries
• Graduate degree in CS, Eng, Statistics or related field
• Strong NLP, DL, Generative AI, LLMs knowledge
• Deep experience with LLM orchestration frameworks (LangChain, LlamaIndex)
• Expert-level LLM APIs (OpenAI, Claude) and open-source models (Llama, Mistral)
• CS fundamentals, algorithms, and distributed systems
• Python and core data libraries (Pandas, NumPy, PyTorch)
• Experience with MCP servers to bridge models with data tools
• Backend scalability (Docker, Kubernetes, AWS/GCP) and production readiness
• Mentoring juniors; strong problem solving & communication skills

Responsibilities

• Design and deploy production‑ready AI systems using LLMs and ML to solve pharma intelligence problems
• Build multi‑agent systems and orchestration workflows with LangChain/AutoGen
• Develop and optimize RAG pipelines with context retrieval and vector databases
• Implement MCP servers for safe data/model interaction
• Architect scalable APIs and microservices with low latency
• Collaborate with product and science teams to apply AI/ML to content
• Research and deliver algorithms as microservices with engineering teams
• Establish testing/evaluation for LLM outputs to control hallucinations
• Contribute to the shared data science platform
• Stay current with AI advances and present findings internally
• All other duties as assigned

Skills

AI/ML development

NLP

LLM orchestration

Python

FastAPI

MCP servers

Distributed systems

LangChain

Pytorch

Docker/Kubernetes

Education

Graduate degree in CS or related field

Tools

LangChain

LlamaIndex

PyTorch

Pandas

NumPy

Docker

Kubernetes

AWS/GCP

Job description

Senior Data Scientist

Company: Norstella

Location: Remote, United States

Date Posted: Sep 20, 2026

Employment Type: Full Time

Job ID: R-1915

Description

About Us

At Norstella, our mission is simple: to help our clients bring life-saving therapies to market quicker—and help patients in need. Founded in 2022, but with history going back to 1939, Norstella unites best-in-class brands to help clients navigate the complexities at each step of the drug development life cycle —and get the right treatments to the right patients at the right time.

Each organization (Citeline, Evaluate, MMIT, Panalgo, The Dedham Group) delivers must-have answers for critical strategic and commercial decision-making. Together, via our market-leading brands, we help our clients:

• Citeline – accelerate the drug development cycle

• Evaluate – bring the right drugs to market

• MMIT – identify barrier to patient access

• Panalgo – turn data into insight faster

• The Dedham Group – think strategically for specialty therapeutics

By combining the efforts of each organization under Norstella, we can offer an even wider breadth of expertise, cutting-edge data solutions and expert advisory services alongside advanced technologies such as real-world data, machine learning and predictive analytics. As one of the largest global pharma intelligence solution providers, Norstella has a footprint across the globe with teams of experts delivering world class solutions in the USA, UK, The Netherlands, Japan, China and India.

Job Summary

Our dedicated Data Science team is at the forefront of revolutionizing pharma intelligence and how patients gain access to life‑saving therapies. Armed with cutting‑edge technology and a passion for innovation, we leverage the vast landscape of data to extract actionable insights that drive informed decision making.

Our unique collaborative approach fosters a dynamic synergy between data science and product development. Our deep expertise in machine learning, artificial intelligence, large language models, and generative AI, combined with our domain knowledge, enables us to deliver comprehensive, production‑grade AI solutions that empower our clients to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving industry.

The Role:

In this role as a Senior Data Scientist, you will:

• Design and deploy production‑ready AI systems that leverage LLMs and advanced ML techniques to solve complex business problems across pharma intelligence

• Build and maintain multi‑agent systems and agentic orchestration workflows using frameworks like LangChain, LangGraph, or AutoGen to execute autonomous tasks

• Develop and optimize Retrieval‑Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines, ensuring high‑fidelity context retrieval and vector database management

• Implement and extend MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers to allow LLMs to interact safely and efficiently with local and remote data sources

• Architect robust, scalable APIs and microservices to serve AI features to end‑users with low latency (FastAPI or similar)

• Collaborate with product partners and other scientists to identify new opportunities to apply AI / ML to our content and products

• Conduct research and identify AI / ML algorithms and methods to solve specific business problems, and deliver these algorithms as microservices in collaboration with content and product engineering teams

• Implement rigorous testing and evaluation frameworks for LLM outputs to ensure prompt stability, prevent regressions, and manage hallucination risks

• Contribute towards the common data science platform

• Stay up‑to‑date, constantly learning about advances in the field, and deliver periodic presentations to internal teams on these developments

• All other duties as assigned

Requirements:

5+ years of experience developing AI / ML applications and data driven solutions, preferably in regulated industries (pharma, legal, financial services, or energy)

• Graduate degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Statistics or a related quantitative discipline, or equivalent work experience

• Substantial depth and breadth in NLP, Deep Learning, Generative AI, LLMs, and other state of the art AI / ML techniques

• Deep experience with LLM orchestration frameworks such as LangChain, LlamaIndex, or similar libraries

• Expert‑level knowledge of LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic Claude) and open‑source models (Llama, Mistral)

• Deep understanding of CS fundamentals, computational complexity and algorithm design

• Experience with building large‑scale distributed systems in an agile environment and the ability to build quick prototypes

• Excellent knowledge of Python and core data science and AI libraries including Pandas, NumPy, PyTorch, and similar

• Experience building or utilizing Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers to bridge models with data tools

• Strong background in scalable backend environments (Docker, Kubernetes, AWS/GCP)

• Experience moving AI from prototype to production‑grade services with monitoring, logging, and rate‑limiting

• Ability to independently conduct research and develop appropriate algorithmic solutions to complex business problems

• Experience mentoring junior team members

• Excellent problem solving and communication skills

Preferred Qualifications:

• Knowledge of the healthcare/pharma domain and experience with applying AI to healthcare data

• Experience with AWS, especially ECS, Bedrock, API Gateway, SageMaker, serverless compute and storage such as S3 and Snowflake

• Proficiency with vector databases such as Pinecone, Qdrant, or similar for high‑performance retrieval

• Experience with RAG patterns, prompt engineering, model fine tuning, and knowledge graphs

• Experience with unstructured document processing (legal document analysis, contract management, data retrieval)

• Experience with Big Data tools like Apache Spark, Hadoop, or Databricks

Benefits:

• Medical and Prescription Drug Benefits

• Health Savings Accounts (HSA) or Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)

• Dental & Vision Benefits

• Basic Life and AD&D Benefits

• 401k Retirement Plan with Company Match

• Company Paid Short & Long-Term Disability

• Paid Parental Leave

• Open Vacation Policy & Company Holidays

Please Note - All candidates must be authorized to work in the United States. We do not provide visa sponsorship or transfers. We are not currently accepting candidates who are on an OPT visa.

The expected base salary for this position ranges from $170,000 to $215,000. It is not typical for offers to be made at or near the top of the range. Salary offers are based on a wide range of factors including relevant skills, training, experience, education, and, where applicable, licensure or certifications obtained. Market and organizational factors are also considered. In addition to base salary and a competitive benefits package, successful candidates are eligible to receive a discretionary bonus.

Norstella is an equal opportunity employer. All job applicants will receive equal treatment regardless of race, creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, physical or mental disability or handicap, medical condition, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy‑related conditions), marital or domestic partner status, military or veteran status, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, reproductive health decision making, or any other protected characteristic as established by federal, state, or local law.

Sometimes the best opportunities are hidden by self‑doubt. We disqualify ourselves before we have the opportunity to be considered. Regardless of where you came from, how you identify, or the path that led you here- you are welcome. If you read this job description and feel passion and excitement, we’re just as excited about you.

Norstella is an equal opportunity employer. All job applicants will receive equal treatment regardless of race, creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, physical or mental disability or handicap, medical condition, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy‑related conditions), marital or domestic partner status, military or veteran status, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, reproductive health decision making, or any other protected characteristic as established by federal, state, or local law.